Gujarat ranks poor 12th of 21 states in gender vulnerability: "Failure" to protect women from sexual violence

By Jag Jivan
Even as Gujarat goes to polls, a high-profile NGO Plan India’s new Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI) has found that the model state is behind 11 out of 21 major Indian states. On a scale of 1, Gujarat GVI is 0.543. The best GVI is that of Kerala (0.634), and worst that of Bihar (0.41).
Associated with Plan International, a UK-based NGO, while the Plan India’s 100-page report does not say why Gujarat, despite being a “developed state”, ranks No 12th among 21 major states, the data do suggest that this is mainly because of its lag in the social sector, on one hand, and providing “protection and safety of girls and women”, on the other.

Providing four different dimensions to calculate the overall GVI, protection, education, health, poverty, the report says, the goals is to “identify broadly the challenges which the respective states face” on the basis of “the priorities established” by each of them, and whether these have led to “balanced and inclusive development”.
Thus, in the poverty dimension of GVI, Gujarat’s ranking is quite good, fifth out of 21 major states. In fact, it is behind just four states – Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. But when it comes to two main social indicators, education and health, Gujarat is behind 10 and 11 states, ranking 11th and 12th respectively.

It is the protection dimension which appears to have pulled down Gujarat’s overall ranking. In the protection dimension, which includes sex discrimination and violence, Gujarat’s overall GVI (0.561), and is better than only five states out of 21 – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
Plan India recognizes that this dimension of GVI is important because “abuse and the threat of violence are an insult to one’s personal welfare and humanity”, and “these behaviours are not always predicted by a household’s socioeconomic identity and are not likely to end anytime soon.”

Calling it at the heart of its GVI analysis, Plan India says, discrimination in India “starts at the womb and persists throughout her life”, adding, “Girls and women, for every year of their lives, are exposed to specific forms of gender based discrimination which disempowers them and widens the gender divide.”
It adds, “Violence, abuse, neglect are the most brutal suppressions of freedom. Women are vulnerable even before their birth and formative years to female feticide and infanticide. As they grow older, they are at risk of human trafficking, physical and sexual abuse and neglect, and this continues in the form of marital and domestic abuse, dowry harassment and desertion.”

Pointing out that in India, “while the male child is an investment, the girl child is a burden”, the report says, this is proved by the fact that “today, more than 1 out of 4 girls are married before the age of 18, and 1 out of 5 boys are married before the age of 21.”
“Although the incidence of child marriage has fallen significantly in the last two decades, it is still persistent and intergenerational because of the strong social stigma surrounding unmarried girls, preservation of her chastity and as means of protection from sexual violence”, the report says.
It adds, “Crimes against women and children, for instance, reveal how the justice system responds to current crises. Protection is one of the most complex features and in order to allow for children and women to flourish, improvements in their personal wellbeing by protecting their rights is necessary.”

Comments

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

Beyond the conflict: Experts outline roadmap for humane street dog solutions

By A Representative In a direct response to the rising polarization surrounding India’s street dog population, a high-level coalition of parliamentarians, legal experts, and civil society leaders gathered in the capital to propose a unified national framework for humane animal management. The emergency deliberations were sparked by a recent Suo Moto judgment that has significantly deepened the divide between animal welfare advocates and those calling for the removal of community dogs, a tension that has recently escalated into reported violence against both animals and their caretakers in states like Telangana.

Search This Blog